Ralph Beard

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American athlete, pro-basketball player for the Indianapolis Olympians for two seasons beginning in 1949 until he was expelled from the game. Beard was involved in the wide-spread point-shaving scandals that seemed to permeate college basketball in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Beard played for the University of Kentucky, leading the team to championships and participating in the Olympics. He was full of potential as he played his first two seasons of pro-basketball. But on October 20,1951, he was arrested for his involvement in his college's point-shaving scandal in a championship game against Loyola in 1949. He allegedly took a $500 bribe to ensure that his team did not cover the point spread. He pleaded guilty and, receiving a suspended sentence, left professional basketball. His wife subsequently divorced him. Beard has since then built a new life for himself complete with new family and new career as a sales representative in the pharmaceutical industry. He remains bitter, however, about the scandals and feels that he had been victimized by having grown up poor and his ambition to be somebody. He also took up golf. He has since suffered multiple health problems including a 1988 arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, hip replacement, and back problems and blindness. The former basketball player died of heart failure on November 29, 2007 at his home in Louisville, KY. He was 79 years old, just two days shy of his 80th birthday.. Link to Wikipedia biography